Greenwich girls impressive at Adirondack Invy

QUEENSBURY — Nearly all the team tents were easy to find Saturday at the Adirondack Cross Country Classic Invitational. If they didn’t have a team name on them in large letters, they were at least the same color as the school.

Not so with the green-and-white Witches of Greenwich, who were gathered under one small, blue tent — so subtle, they could be unrecognizable.

Until their varsity girls took to the course. Then that changed in a hurry.

Greenwich, ranked No. 1 in the first state Class C poll this week, ran against larger schools in the Division I race and delivered a magnificent performance, winning the race with 52 points. And just whom did the Witches defeat? Champlain Valley Union, the nine-time defending Vermont Division I champions and one of the preseason favorites for New England champion, was second with 61. Bethlehem, ninth in the state Class A poll, was third with 85, and Niskayuna, ranked one spot above Bethlehem in the state, took fourth with 102.

Freshman Nina Sgambelluri led the Witches with a second-place finish, outkicking Ballston Spa’s Faith DeMars in the final strides to complete the 3.1-mile course in 18 minutes, 32.22 seconds.

“We kind of battled back and forth for a long time in the woods and out on the green,” Sgambelluri said of DeMars and her, “and I was, like, you know what, I think I have some left, let’s just see how it goes. Nothing to lose.”

Junior Brynne Wright placed fourth in 18:52.81, junior Emma Cronin was 11th in 19:38.02, eighth-grader Teagan Wright was 15th in 19:51.00 and freshman Emily Skiff rounded out Greenwich’s scorers in 20th place with a time of 20:10.96.

“We were pretty nervous, but we were, like, OK, this is a great opportunity to see how we can do. So, I think we’re really excited to be here and excited how we finished,” Sgambelluri said.

The other top local finisher for the day was North Warren-Johnsburg senior Brandon Olden, who battled Voorheesville’s Evan Ensslin for much of the final 100 yards in the Division II boys race before placing second in 16:41.00.

“I knew (Ensslin) would be in the race, and the past couple of years we’ve had some close races where it’s come down to the line, so I knew it was anyone’s game,” Olden said. “One kid from Maple Grove threw me off; I didn’t realize they were going to be here, and I knew they had great runners.”

Olden said he wanted to run a faster time than last year, which he did.

“That was a big goal,” Olden said. “I wanted to win, too, so not coming away with that was tough.”

Weather conditions changed throughout the four varsity races. When the Greenwich girls ran, the sun was still behind clouds, but the Division II boys got the sun’s full force.

“The sun definitely threw us off,” Olden said. “I knew it was supposed to get sunny, but it just got real hot, real quick. I mean, everyone had to run in it, so you can’t really complain.”

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